The Shark-Drawn Carriage
by The Type 40 TARDIS
Summary: A very late response to LizzeXX's challenge - This is my own personal theory of how the Doctor could've remembered the Angel (takes place during the events of "A Christmas Carol" (2010 Christmas special))


**A/N: This is a very late submission to LizzeXX's challenge, but I thought 'better late than never'.**

**The challenge was that in "Among the Forgotten" and up to AGMGTW in "A Fallen Angel" the Doctor had forgotten who his Mate, the Angel, was to him so we could write a one-shot story on how we thought the Doctor would remember her.**

**This story takes place during the shark-drawn carriage events in "A Christmas Carol" and all italics are memories (from ATF by LizzeXX) and anything in apostrophes are telepathic communication between the Time Lords. Enjoy!**

The Shark-Drawn Carriage.

The Doctor was currently running around a carriage, attaching a harness to it – to the amusement of Kazran and Abigail. Angel, however, was just standing there, watching the Doctor. She was very upset at this point as the idea of the shark-drawn carriage was one she had constantly mentioned to the Tenth Doctor and he had promised to do it.

Angel sighed, and remembered the conversion they had about it. She and the Tenth Doctor had just gotten back to the TARDIS after the _Titanic_ fiasco and her tenth self had been falling asleep.

**-FLASHBACK-**

"_I got a good long cuddle with my Mate, JUST what I wanted for Christmas. Are you sure YOU'RE not psychic?" she had asked._

"_I'm nowhere NEAR as special as you," the Tenth Doctor had laughed – but it was a truthful laugh, "But I do promise, the next Christmas will be better."_

"_Take me for a shark-drawn carriage ride and we'll call it even." she had sleepily replied._

**-FLASHBACK-**

Angel smiled at the conversion. It had been a time where all she knew was that she loved the Doctor and the Doctor loved her back. After his regeneration into his eleventh body, however, she had been forgotten and she would do anything for his memories of the Mating to return.

Little did she know, the Universe was preparing her a very special Christmas present…

**-Doctor Who-**

The Doctor had finished attaching the harness to the carriage and was about to pull out the broken sonic screwdriver to signal the shark when he noticed Angel.

She was crying silent tears and he recalled the first adventure he had had after his regeneration had finished that he had said that it meant that she couldn't stop crying. It pained him in his hearts that his friend was upset. Was it because her deceased Mate had started the process around Christmas?

His hearts pinged at that thought. He didn't understand why that hurt him emotionally but he sighed, pulled out the broken sonic and pointed it at the sky.

"It could be anywhere," Kazran mused from inside the carriage, before getting down from it. Angel walked over and put the boy back in the carriage before sitting down herself. She wasn't looking forward to this as the meaning behind this was gone. The Doctor had forgotten the meaning. "Will it really come?"

"No chance," replied the Doctor, staring up at the sky – it was really to stop himself looking at Angel, "Completely impossible!"

"Except at Christmas," Angel finished quietly.

**-Doctor Who-**

The Time Lords and Humans were now in the sky. The Doctor's plan had worked and he was now at the reins of the shark. He smiled before looking at Angel – where his face dropped like a ton of bricks.

She was covering her face with her hands, like a Weeping Angel. The Doctor shook his head, why did he compare her to them?! Angel sighed and dropped her hands.

Her eyes were puffy and she had a red nose. She had been crying a lot.

The Doctor then made the second-best move of his lives – he took his left hand off the reins and gently grabbed Angel's right hand.

The effect was immediate.

Memories suddenly hit the Doctor like the effects of a Pan-Galactic-Gargle-Blaster. The Doctor saw them briefly, from his last regeneration backwards.

He saw the physical aspect of the Mating being completed for Angel's 800th birthday and remembered how he felt amazing that he and Angel were now proper Mates.

He saw Angel regenerating from the after effects of The-Year-That-Never-Was and how ecstatic it made him.

He saw how River had treated Angel during the Vashta Nerada episode and how much he detested River for it. He then remembered the Pandorica and the _Byzantium_ and how she treated Angel. Oh, River will have hell to pay for this.

He saw Angel nearly dying at the Master's hands and how he was glad that when the whole thing was reversed as Angel came back to life.

He saw the emotional aspect being completed after the Family of Blood incident and how he was over the moon as he knew there was one more part to go.

He saw how much Martha and Donna meant to Angel and how they became part of their ever-increasing family. It was fantastic to see that.

He saw how Angel wouldn't let him be upset over the fact they had lost Rose and Mickey and remembered just how much she helped him. Another reason why he loved Angel.

He saw the mental aspect of the process being completed after Angel's regeneration. He remembered just how overjoyed he was that the Mating was actually happening!

The Doctor then turned to look at Angel and smiled lovingly at her as the last memory replayed itself.

**-FLASHBACK-**

_The Tenth Doctor, fresh from his recuperation after the regeneration, had turned to Angel, who had finished cleaning up the tea that helped him, and said to her, "Earlier…I was weakened and the TARDIS didn't work, that could be really dangerous…"_

"_Alright…so what do you want to do?" she had asked._

"_I want you to bond to the TARDIS too," he had replied, watching as her mouth dropped open in shock, of ANYTHING he could have said, he knew that was NOT what she had expected, even being a precog._

"_Doctor…" she shook her head, "Are you serious?"_

"_Very."_

"_But…the ONLY time TWO PEOPLE bond to the SAME TARDIS is when…" she trailed off, knowing it was when they take a Mate._

"_I know," the Tenth Doctor smiled at her._

**-FLASHBACK-**

The Doctor smiled at the memory that set off the rest of the amazing, brilliant, loving and all-in-all fantastic memories. He remembered the rest: how he felt when Angel said yes, the name-swapping (Theta for Nella) and their first kiss.

The best kiss in the Universe!

'Nella?' The Doctor telepathically asked her, just to make sure these memories WERE real.

'Th…Theta?" Angel replied.

'NELLA!'

The Doctor and Angel looked at each other; the sparkles in their eyes were there, twinkling like stars. They smiled lovingly at each other and kissed for the first time in too long.

** -Doctor Who-**

After everything was finished, the Doctor and Angel were walking hand in hand up to the TARDIS when Amy and Rory – dressed in a policewoman's uniform and a Roman Centurion outfit, respectively – came running up to them.

After a brief explanation of what had happened – and Rory giving the Doctor a black eye that he deserved for everything he had done to his Mate (the Doctor smiled at the thought that they were Mates again) – the Ponds went up to bed. The Doctor and Angel followed, and when they had reached their bedroom, they went inside, shut the door and repeated the physical aspect of the Mating again for the first time in ages.

Angel hadn't yet told the Doctor she was pregnant though. That was tomorrow…


End file.
